Tony Brackens

Tony Brackens

No. 90
Position:	Defensive end
Personal information
Born:	(1974-12-26) December 26, 1974 Fairfield, Texas, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:	267 lb (121 kg)
Career information
High school:	Fairfield
College:	Texas
NFL draft:	1996 / round: 2 / pick: 33
Career history
Jacksonville Jaguars (1996–2004)
Career highlights and awards
Second-team All-Pro (1999) Pro Bowl (1999) 2× NFL forced fumbles co-leader (1996, 1999) PFWA All-Rookie Team (1996) Consensus All-American (1995) 3× First-team All-SWC (1993, 1994, 1995)
Career NFL statistics
Tackles: 469 Sacks: 55.0 Forced fumbles: 28 Interceptions: 5 Stats at Pro Football Reference

Tony Lynn Brackens Jr. (born December 26, 1974) is an American former professional football player who spent his entire nine-year career as a defensive end for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Longhorns, earning consensus All-American honors. A second-round pick in the 1996 NFL draft, Brackens was named a second-team All-Pro and selected to the Pro Bowl with Jacksonville in 1999.

Early life

Brackens was born and raised in Fairfield, Texas. He attended Fairfield High School, and played for the Fairfield Eagles high school football team.

College career

Brackens attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he played for the Texas Longhorns football team from 1992 to 1995. He developed a reputation as a ferocious hitter as a defensive end. As senior in 1995, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American and was also a first-team All-Southwest Conference selection. He finished his career ranked eighth on the Longhorns' all-time list with 24 sacks. He was also a key contributor to the 1995 Longhorns team that went 10-1 and won the Southwest Conference and gained a berth in the 1996 Sugar Bowl against the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Professional career

He was taken in the second round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars, for whom he played his entire professional career. His lone Pro Bowl appearance came in 2000, after the 1999 season in which he had 12 sacks and 8 forced fumbles. As of 2011, he held the all-time Jacksonville Jaguars records for several categories: sacks (55), fumble recoveries (13) and forced fumbles (28). He is also the leading tackler (all-time) among Jaguars defensive ends.

He was released in 2004, after a series of troubling leg injuries and operations. He ultimately decided to retire, saying that recent rule changes had made it impossible for him to play his style of football. He said, "Mentally and physically, I thought I could probably still do it, but I didn’t want to put up with all the rule changes. All the stuff they’re doing to players takes the fun out of the game." The moment in which he was let go was captured by NFL Films in "Jacksonville Jaguars: Inside the Training Camp", an unofficial version of the Hard Knocks TV series.

NFL statistics

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	Tackles				Fumbles		Interceptions
			Comb	Solo	Ast	Sack	FF	FR	Int	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD	PD
1996	JAX	16	55	45	10	7.0	5	3	1	27	27.0	27	0	9
1997	JAX	15	41	38	3	7.0	5	1	0	0	0.0	0	0	7
1998	JAX	12	39	27	12	3.5	1	3	0	0	0.0	0	0	8
1999	JAX	16	66	53	13	12.0	8	2	2	16	8.0	16	1	8
2000	JAX	16	61	53	8	7.5	2	2	1	7	7.0	7	0	8
2001	JAX	12	42	39	3	11.0	5	1	0	0	0.0	0	0	6
2002	JAX	5	11	9	2	1.0	0	1	0	0	0.0	0	0	1
2003	JAX	15	38	32	6	6.0	2	0	1	4	4.0	4	0	2
Career		107	353	296	57	55.0	28	13	5	54	10.8	27	1	49

Postseason

Year	Team	GP	Tackles				Fumbles
			Comb	Solo	Ast	Sack	FF	FR
1996	JAX	3	8	6	2	1.0	1	0
1997	JAX	1	6	4	2	0.0	0	0
1998	JAX	1	2	2	0	1.0	0	1
1999	JAX	2	7	7	0	2.0	2	2
Career		7	23	19	4	4.0	3	3